Conventionally, in a vehicle, various types of meters showing various pieces of information including the vehicle speed, the remaining amount of fuel and the number of revolutions of the engine are disposed. These meters are typically disposed in the instrument panel mounted in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle. In recent years, there are many cases in which in an instrument panel, such as a liquid crystal panel, having a surface-shaped drawing device, pieces of information about such meters as above are shown in graphic display.
In the surface-shaped drawing device, however, the following problems exist. Because on-screen meters are displayed in two dimensions, the driver cannot have a stereoscopic feeling for the on-screen meters and these meters do not look like actual meters. Further, even in a case where the on-screen meters are displayed in three dimensional representation, the driver feels unnatural because the shadow or the like resulting from light is not produced thereon.
In order to solve these problems, for example, in patent literatures 1 and 2, the following techniques for pursuing reality and representing the texture of actual analog meters or the like more accurately are disclosed. A light receiving sensor or the like is mounted on an instrument panel. The position and the incidence direction of received light are calculated based on the received light to draw shadow of the light or the like. As a result, the meters of a vehicle are displayed graphically in which the appearance thereof are closer to actual meters.